Brandon North is a poetry candidate in the NEOMFA program. He holds an MA in Literature from Wright State University, which is located in Dayton, Ohio, his hometown.
Alternative content
I meet a man
who offers me his toothbrush.
I trade my garbage bag.
Then a handshake
in falling volcanic ash.
This janitor will use it
to soak up the river,
but I’ll be lifted like a pendulum.
A bird is pecking a skull.
It won’t open.
I watch him jump
across the split in the land,
waiting to answer someone’s question.
An animal is walking down
my hillside.
I touch my bloody leg.